Title: Let that be a Lesson to you…part 4/11
Author: Sweetdoggie
Disclaimer: No permission has been granted to use the characters. They are owned by their creator, Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, UPN, WB, and Mutant Enemy. This story is non-profit and is intended solely as entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended.
She carried the bag back to the house and collapsed into the chair in the living room. The girls were cuddled up next to him on the couch. Xander sat on his lap. Buffy had to admit it was damned cute. She thought for a moment and got up to find her camera. She got four really good pictures while they were unaware. They were engrossed in cartoons so she took a moment to go upstairs and assemble the crib. It wasn’t hard since everything screwed together, but it was awkward to do alone. She was glad to have Slayer strength.
Coming back downstairs, she found the children wanted lunch. Quickly deciding that peanut butter was better than cooking, she made them each a half-sandwich washed down by another cup of milk.
“Really, Buffy. I’d think you could find something a bit better than peanut butter for the children.”
Her eyes gleamed dangerously. “Oh yes? Perhaps you’d like to do supper tonight then?”
“Of course. That wouldn’t’ be any problem at all.” He sounded so smugly superior that she couldn’t resist.
“Good. I’m going to need to patrol so you’ll be here by yourself for a few hours.”
He was looking less cocky by the minute, she saw.
“Are you sure that’s necessary?”
“Oh, yes. Patrol is vital. Don’t you remember telling me that for years when I was a teen? Gosh, you should be happy I’m taking your words to heart, Giles.”
He stood, knowing that he had been acting like a smug bastard but not knowing how exactly to apologize. Finally, he settled on simply nodding. “As you say,” he agreed.
Having some mercy on him, she suggested that a trip to the park might tire the kids out before evening. He agreed with alacrity. Buffy changed the baby and got the various accoutrements into the diaper bag. She swung Willow into her arms and Giles placed Xander in his now customary place on his back. Grabbing the girls’ hands, they left the house.
Luckily the park was only a couple of blocks away. They got there without incident, though both girls tripped several times and had to decide if they were going to cry or not. Fortunately, the lure of the park was great enough to fend off serious tears. After depositing the children near the swings, Giles and Buffy collapsed onto a nearby bench. They watched them playing happily with the other kids already there.
Suddenly, a youngish woman with a toddler walked up to them. “Say, don’t I know you? Yeah, you’re Buffy and he’s Mr. Giles the Librarian. I’m Molly, you know, from Sunnydale High? I think we were in a couple of classes together.”
Buffy looked at her blankly. The woman’s face certainly wasn’t ringing any bells with her. “Oh, sorry. I had a lot going on then and I have to admit, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to things,” she apologized.
Molly smiled. “That’s OK.” She looked over at the playground and then down at the baby in Buffy’s arms. “Wow, you must have had your babies right out of school. Those little girls look like they have to be at least three.”
Buffy blushed. “Uh, yeah, they’re three and a half actually. Little Alex is two and baby Will here is six months.”
“You guys have a really cute family, but you know, you don’t have to populate the planet all at once.” She leaned over and grinned at them. “You do know what causes that, don’t you?”
Giles was bright red by this time. “Ah, yes, that is, we have an idea.”
“So, I guess everybody was right when they said you two were together back then. I mean, you must have been pregnant in your senior year if the girls are that old.” She was very off the cuff with her remarks. Clearly it didn’t bother her.
“Ah, well, things happen.” Buffy offered lamely.
Molly laughed and looked down at her toddler. “Yeah, they sure do. Do you remember Kevin O’Donnal from the swim team? We got married when I got preggers with Mandy here.”
Giles looked like he might expire at any moment so Buffy took pity on him and cooed over the small child. She and Molly looked at baby Willow and made the appropriate noises.
“You know, she really looks like that red-headed friend of yours, what was her name?”
“Willow.” Buffy said. “In fact, that’s who she’s named after. What with the red hair and all.”
“Yeah.” Molly nodded. “I wonder where that came from? Neither of you have red hair.”
“Oh, my dad does,” Buffy explained.
They chatted for another fifteen minutes before Molly’s little girl wanted to go play. She waved at them and wandered over to the slide.
“You do realize that my reputation is in tatters now?” Giles told Buffy sadly.
“What? At least you weren’t pregnant in high school, like I apparently was.”
“I simply don’t see how people could believe such things.”
Buffy snorted. “Surely this isn’t the first time that particular idea has come up around you?”
“What do you mean?” He looked lost.
She looked mildly exasperated. “Giles, I’ve been dealing with variations of that theme since I was sixteen. Geez, even Spike asked me once what was up between us.”
He looked shocked. “I, I had no idea.”
“Yeah, I know. It was kinda sweet how absolutely clueless you were.”
He frowned but merely replied that simply because he didn’t have a prurient mind did not make him clueless.
“Uh huh. Don’t worry about it. It was sort of interesting having everybody think my boyfriend was such a cool guy.”
His face was red. “I can’t believe you thought I was a cool guy. That certainly isn’t the impression I’ve received over the years.”
She grinned. “Misdirection, Giles. You weren’t ever supposed to know that your Slayer was mooning over you.”
“Oh, you were not!” he protested vehemently.
“Yup.” She sighed and looked off toward the playground once more. “I knew you would never go for it so I developed interests elsewhere. When you saved me from Amy’s mom, wow! I could have melted at your feet.”
“But you were only a child then!”
“Sixteen, Giles. In a lot of cultures, I’d have been married with children by that age. I know a lot of girls who gave up their virginity by the time they were fourteen and fifteen, so my being attracted to you when I was sixteen, with the life I lead, well, not really a surprise.”
“Why didn’t you ever let me see any of this?”
“Because it was embarrassing. It’s not like you liked me back or anything. No girl wants a guy to pity her, you know. Besides, you’d have given that little cough you do and then you’d have said something I’d probably have to have Slayed you for, like “while I must rejoice that I rank so highly in your regard, I regret that I can not return your feelings,’ or something equally horrible. Tell me you wouldn’t have said I was like a daughter to you.” She looked visibly ill at the thought.
“Buffy, I’ve loved you for years.” His voice was quiet.
“What!”
“I’ve been in love with you since you were eighteen, actually it was probably longer than that, but that’s when I first noticed it.”
“Really? Cool.” She propped the baby up in one hand and put her other out to him. “How do you feel about it now?”
He took her hand carefully in his. “I feel like I can’t live without you in my life: whether I remain as your Watcher or your lover is entirely up to you.”
She smiled. “Well, I’m not sure about how fast to move on this, but we could work toward lovers.”
“I’ve always been a hard worker.” He smiled slyly.
“Wait a minute! Was that a double entendre? It was, wasn’t it? Oh my God! You made a sex joke.” She laughed delightedly.
Just then Anya and Tara started calling for ‘daddy’ to come push them on the swings. He looked longingly at Buffy but obediently went out to tend the children. Xander had managed to find mud and had soaked himself from head to toe. Buffy cleaned his tiny face with the baby wipes, but he was still a mess. He couldn’t make up his mind whether or not to cry. Buffy simply grinned at him. “Don’t worry about it, Xander. You’ll wash.”
They stayed at the park long enough for him to dry out. Giles took one look and refused to carry him on his shoulders. “He’s filthy, Buffy.”
“Oh, pooh. He’s just a baby, Rupert and he can’t walk that far by himself.”
Giles sighed and compromised by swinging the dirty boy into his arms. Anya took his left hand and Tara walked with Buffy and the baby.
They walked home contentedly. “You know, one thing about all this,” Buffy told him. “It’s a great parenting experience.”
“I believe I would forgo that to have our friends back in their normal capacities.”
“Well, yeah, of course, but you know, as the Slayer, I’ll never get a chance to have a home and family like this. It’s kinda unique. Not that I’m not going to kick Willow’s a…er behind for her when she’s back to normal, though.”
“You’ll have to stand in line for that particular pleasure,” he told her dryly.
She giggled at a sudden thought and he looked over at her fondly. “What?”
“Do you think the guys will have any memory of their time as babies when we fix ‘em?”
“It’s hard to say, but it’s entirely possible.”
“Wow! Are they gonna be embarrassed.”
“Why do you say that?”
She giggled again. “Giles, not only have you seen all of them totally naked, you’ve wiped their little bottoms for them. You’ve changed Willow’s diaper. Heh, heh. Tonight, you get to help me bathe them.”
He grinned fiercely. “You’re right, even if they don’t remember, we will. This should prove most amusing. Why don’t you take pictures for posterity’s sake?”
“Oh, God, yes! How about naked baby pictures on the rug for Will and maybe a potty seat photo of Xander? Anya and Tara were more or less innocent bystanders so maybe we should go easier on them.”
“No,” he said judiciously. “I told them to not let her touch the artifact. They chose to let her. I’d say naked baby photos are the least we can do, especially when you consider the expense we have been put to.”
“You mean that you’ve been put to. I haven’t paid for anything.”
“You’ve paid in your time and in your efforts. Trust me when I say how deeply I appreciate your knowledge of children and babies. Had this happened to me on my own, I should have been utterly lost.”
She smiled, pleased at his compliment. “Nah, for ten minutes, maybe, but then you’d have taken charge and kicked baby booty.”
He giggled at her play on words. “I was wondering, would you like to have dinner with me?”
Buffy grinned. “I was sort of planning on it.” She used the baby in her arms to emphasize her point.
“Oh! Yes. I see what you mean. Um, how about after we turn these brats back into slightly larger brats?”
“You’ve got a date, Rupert.”
He smiled down at her softly. “I find that I quite like it when you call me Rupert. It sounds different in American, you know.”
“Really? Like how?”
“Oh, I don’t know, that is, it’s difficult to explain. Americans are so very fond of their r’s and you drag your vowels out forever.”
“Huh. ‘S’ funny, anyhow.”
“Yes, rather.”
They managed to get back to the house. “We’ve only got another hour before dark,” Buffy told him. “Do you think we should bathe them first or feed them then bathe?”
He looked at the filthy children. Even the girls had managed to get grubby. “As much as I’d like to bathe them and be done with it, I suppose it would be better if they were fed so that we can put them to bed as soon as possible. I’ve barely gotten started researching the problem and we both have obligations that are going to take us away from research soon. I need to open the store again on Monday and you have classes.”
“How can I go to school? Somebody has to mind the kids and you do have to be at the store.”
“What do normal parents do with their children while they work?”
“Daycare! Awesome idea! I’ll call on Monday and get them placed. Yes!” She would have liked to give him a high five, but the baby in one arm and Tara holding her other precluded the celebratory gesture.